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In 1999 the hunt for gay role models outed numerous historical figures and fictional characters from Honest Abe to Tinky Winky. 2000 may yet provide even more eye-popping additions to the lavender hall of fame. Now with the anti-gay Knight Initiative pending a popular vote in California this spring, at least two gay Web sites are gathering examples of proto-gay marriage as inspiration.

But will the relentless search for homosexual love-nests lead to elevating a homophobe to the purple pantheon?

J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI chief, and his longtime companion, Clyde Tolson, were an ambiguously gay crime-fighting duo. Inseparable for 44 years, 1928-1972, the two top G-men vacationed together, often dressed similarly and continue their cohabitation even after death. They're buried alongside one another.

Such facts have garnered Hoover and his handsome right-hand henchman praise as homosexual role models from the Web site Partners' list of "Famous Lesbian and Gay Couples." Along with an impressive lineup of long-term lovers, the crime-fighting couple are touted as the 11th-longest romance on a list headed by Canadian authoress Mazo de la Roche and Carol Clement's 75-year love affair. Other famous persevering pairs include Greek historical novelist Mary Renault and Julie Mullard (50 years), cubist writer Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas (39 years), poet W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman (34 years), Renaissance wonder Leonardo da Vinci and his apprentice Giacomo Caprotti (30 years) and conqueror Alexander the Great and his cavalry commander Hephaistion (19 years).

Do Hoover and Tolson really belong on this list? No one has unearthed documentation that the two men had blazing hot sex together. Couldn't they have just been platonic pals? Evidence of physical intimacy is merely circumstantial, although suspicions about J. Edgar and Clyde ran rampant through Washington political circles. Richard Nixon's obscene comment upon hearing of Hoover's death ("Jesus Christ, that old cocksucker!") perhaps describes the opinion of inside observers, but no letters, photos, diaries or reliable witnesses can carnally tie the two men together. The best "proof" comes from the wife of Hoover's psychiatrist; she claims that Hoover admitted his homosexuality to her husband during a confidential session.

Even if Hoover and Tolson did engage in a lifelong love affair, does that really make them worthy of admiration? After all, he spread destructive, unsubstantiated rumors that Adlai Stevenson was gay to damage the liberal Illinois governor's 1952 bid for the presidency. He hunted down and threatened anyone who dared to utter an innuendo about his sexual preference. And his extensive secret files contained surveillance material on Eleanor Roosevelt's alleged lesbian lovers, probably gathered for the purpose of blackmail.

The Who's Who gay role model page of Getting Real Online, a youth support Web site, lists Hoover as "somebody to look up to," citing his lengthy relationship with Tolson and suggesting that Hoover was a "part-time cross-dresser." But this is another allegation that lacks reliable substantiation, such as a photo of J. Edgar in drag.

Hoover's and Tolson's names will undoubtedly be bandied about in the next three months as the battle over the proposed ban on gay marriage heats up. Yanking J. Edgar and Clyde flamboyantly out of the closet and waving their relationship with the rainbow flag may assist the cause of gay activists, but the truth remains that the master detective who spied on everyone else's sex life left the dossier on his own libido decidedly empty.
salon.com | Jan. 5, 2000

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